Purple Barn - or why I love my HOA

Here in the greater Phoenix Valley of the Sun, we have Homeowners Associations eveywhere.  In fact, McCormick Ranch is the larger Homeowners Association with many (52) neighborhoods with their own associations.

Have a love / hate relationship with your HOA.  There is a reason to keep the broken down cars out of the drive, to keep yards kept up and tidy, and to make sure your neighbor doesn’t have a purple barn…

Housing Market Recovery in the wind

Who would have thought that the out lying areas would recover first.   We are seeing a huge number of homes selling in the outer communities like Queen Creek, Buckeye, and Maricopa.  Some of these towns are showing a 3 month supply of homes.  (the number of active homes on the market divided by the number of homes that sold in the past month.)  That is a huge difference from about a year ago when those areas had over a year supply of homes. 

Since the prices plummeted in those areas, we are seeing prices under 100k for a 2000 square foot home. Once again, the “drive till you can afford it”  is back. 

FHA requires 3 1/2% down payment, and you can ask for the seller to contribute up to 6% to closing costs.  With the first time home buyer tax credits, buying a home is back on the “to do list” in a big way.